The 25th annual Conference of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) at the University of the West Indies, held earlier in May at the UWI Regional Headquarters, was by all accounts a significant success.

The conference, themed ‘Translating Thought into Action: Towards Decolonial Equity and Justice in the Caribbean‘ brought together students, scholars, representatives of various NGOs and civil society organisations, as well as major international organisations, coming from Jamaica, the wider Caribbean, North America, Europe, and Mexico to discuss current issues and solutions for big questions on sustainable development.

The conference was framed by its opening ceremony, during which Dr Peter Phillips served as a guest speaker.  Drawing on his scholarly background and experience as a public servant, Phillips noted the long way that Jamaica has come, but also lamented that much was still left to be done, particularly with regard to having a basic national consensus about some of the foundational aspects of economic and social development.  

During the opening ceremony, SALISES also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex, which is the continuation of an earlier agreement for cooperation between both.  

In addition to numerous well-received breakout sessions on matters such as regional security, children rights, food security, reparatory justice, tourism, climate, and energy, as well as crime and law, two plenary sessions also supported the general conference theme. 

With the active participation of international partners such as UNDP, UNICEF, the Caribbean Policy Consortium (CPC), the MiFood Network, the conference brought significant international attention to local and regional concerns, as well as to the contributions made by SALISES and UWI.  

As Dr Holger Henke, director of SALISES (Mona) pointed out, “With this conference we have underscored our claim to being the premier research institution in the English-speaking Caribbean to critically evaluate and provide pragmatic advice on various issues of sustainable development.”  

International partners joining the conference brought a sense of urgency and significance to the conference that the organizers’ invitation had put forward.  As Kishan Khoday, the representative of UNDP in Jamaica, asked, “Do we simply proceed in this context with the daily task of implementing the policies and approaches that exist before us, despite extreme volatility and systemic risks, or do we challenge the defects inherent in development policy and practice that are often shrouded rather than elucidated by conventional discourse?”  

Most conference participants were prepared to argue with a clear “no” to this suggestive question.

On the last day of the event, SALISES recognised a significant donation of the private library of the late professor Ambassador Richard Bernal with a certificate conferred on his wife, Margaret Bernal.  

During this session, the Institute’s fundraising initiative was unveiled for a future ‘Richard L. Bernal Reading Room and Commons’.  

This newly designed space within SALISES’ existing facilities would serve as a flexible multi-purpose room equipped with cutting-edge touch-table and video-conferencing technology, to be used for a variety of meeting formats, teaching, as a reading room, creative projects and endeavours, and community outreach.